Senate Republicans Have High Hopes For Speech
Just out of their annual conference, Senate Republican leaders told reporters they hope to hear several things from President Obama tonight during his first official State of the Union address: that he's putting the health care bill "on the shelf" to focus on jobs, not letting the Bush tax cuts expire this year and clearing up confusion about prosecuting terror suspects.
"What we're hearing is the hope of the American people that tonight the president concentrate on jobs, on debt, on terror," said Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the Senate Republican Conference chairman. "And if he stopped right there and focused on that until he got all three on a better track, we believe most Americans would be happy with that."
Asked what grade they would give Obama on his first year in office, all seven senators on stage at the press conference remained quiet and none stepped forward to the microphone. After a few moments of silence, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) said, "We're pretty tough graders."
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) professed his preference that Obama rethink his plans for Guantanamo, saying it was the best place to hold military commissions and house terrorists.
He also referenced an NPR poll out today that found Republicans leading the generic congressional ballot by 5 points. It's a far cry from Election Day 2008, when Democrats led it by 12 points and increased their majorities in both chambers of Congress.
"People are much more open to voting for Republicans -- and we saw that in New Jersey and Virginia and Massachusetts -- certainly than they were in November 2008," said McConnell.